Thompson Savoring His Taste of Big Leagues

Jason Thompson is getting a taste right now.

Tony Gwynn, outfielder and chief needler for the San Diego Padres, is on the attack in the clubhouse. It’s a typical Gwynn tongue-and-cheek assault, quick and cutting. The type that normally draws a response. Thompson, though, just grins and takes it.

Afterward, Jody Reed walks by and gives Thompson a little advice.

“Sooner or later you’re going to learn to tell Tony to shut up, like everyone else does,” Reed says.

Mental note. No more grief from Gwynn.

These are the ins and outs of major league baseball on which Thompson, a former Laguna Hills High and Saddleback College player, is brushing up.

He’s here for a brief visit and knows it. The Padres needed a first baseman to fill in for the injured Wally Joyner. Who better than the one playing, and playing well, for the team’s triple-A franchise in Las Vegas?

But this is Wally Joyner, not Wally Pipp, Thompson has replaced. When Joyner’s fractured left thumb is healed, it’s back to Las Vegas.

“I realize I’m going back, it’s just a matter of time,” Thompson said. “To me, it doesn’t make a difference. I have an opportunity to show I belong here. I just keep my mouth shut and learn.”

At times, he appears to be a quick study.

His arrival hasn’t exactly caused fear among National League pitchers. But he hasn’t been a washout, either. Thompson is hitting .273 in 11 games since being called up June 9 and has been tested under difficult conditions.

The Padres had an all-night ordeal getting to Chicago, which included sitting on the tarmac in San Diego for four hours early Thursday. Thompson stepped off the plane and had three hits against the Cubs that afternoon.

“Jason might have had a little extra adrenaline going because it was his first game in Wrigley Field,” Padre General Manager Kevin Towers said.

That excitement can be a double-edged sword. Thompson made two errors in two games after being called up. He dropped a popup and booted a ground ball, and has been kicking himself ever since.

But he also went went two for three against Cincinnati, getting his first major league hit--a double--and driving in a run in his second major league game.

It is those type of moments that seem to validate Thompson’s rapid rise in the organization. Midway through his fourth professional season, he has gone from Class A to the major leagues.

“Jason has continued to prove to everyone he can hit,” Towers said. “He reminds me a little of John Kruk. John went unnoticed but continually proved he could hit.”

Thompson hit .300 and had a league-high 25 doubles at Spokane, a Class A short-season team, in 1993.

The following season, he hit .360 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs in 66 games at Class A Rancho Cucamonga before being promoted to double A. Baseball America named him to its minor league all-star team, which covered all levels.

It was no fluke. Thompson hit .272 with 20 home runs and 64 RBIs in 1995 at double-A Memphis. This season, he was hitting .330 and was leading Las Vegas in home runs (14) and RBIs (35) when he was called up.

“We debated adding him to the [major league] roster over the winter,” Towers said. “We thought hard about it and decided to leave him off. But we were worried someone would draft him.”

It’s unlikely Thompson, who hit a two-run home run Monday against the Atlanta Braves, will be dangled again, not if he continues the way he’s going.

“You can’t control your next move,” Thompson said. “I wouldn’t be in the major leagues right now if Joyner hadn’t been hurt. But when the opportunity came, I was playing well. So I can control some things.”

And some things are pure luck. Thompson didn’t even start at Laguna Hills, where he was a scrawny 6-foot-1, 150-pound senior in 1989. He tried to walk on at USC and was told to take a hike.

He did earn a partial scholarship to Pepperdine after one season at Saddleback. But Malibu seemed to be the last stop. He hit .231, going hitless in 31 at-bats during one stretch and three for 60 during another.

“I wasn’t mentally or physically ready to play Division I baseball,” said Thompson, who is now 6-4. “I can’t really blame it on a bad streak. I just flat-out wasn’t any good.”

Except for one weekend in Arizona. Thompson went eight for 12 during a three-game series against the Wildcats in Tucson. Arizona Coach Jerry Kindall remembered and offered to let Thompson walk on. After one season, he earned a scholarship and ended up first-team All-Pac-10 as a senior.

“It’s funny how three days can change your whole life,” said Thompson.

And today he’s with the Padres.

“At every level, I’ve said, ‘It’s nice to be here, but I certainly never expected to be here,’ ” Thompson said.

“Now I’m [in the major leagues] and it’s nice to be here, but I never expected to be here. But I want to take my game to another level.”